ON THE SELF-ORGANIZATION AND EVOLUTION OF ECONOMIC GEOGRAPHY*

Focusing on the topics of the self-organization and evolution of spatial economies, this paper presents a highly selective review of recent development in economic geography. It is shown, in particular, that dynamical approaches based on monopolistic competition models are useful for the study of the long-run evolutionary processes of spatial economies dominated by cities. The relationship between spatial agglomeration and economic growth is also discussed.     

THE EVOLUTION OF SPATIAL ECONOMICS: FROM THÜNEN TO THE NEW ECONOMIC GEOGRAPHY

This paper presents a review of the evolution of spatial economics over the past two centuries. The focus is on the evolution of what I consider to be the most fundamental theory of spatial economics, i.e., general location theory . The paper starts with a review of Thünen (1826 ), and ends with a review of the New Economic Geography initiated by Paul Krugman in the early 1990s. It is shown that the study of general location theory has been successful at shedding light on many important features of actual spatial economies.     

THE POTATO MARKETING SYSTEM AND ITS CHANGES IN BANGLADESH: FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF A VILLAGE STUDY IN COMILLA DISTRICT

This paper analyzes the marketing system of potato in Bangladesh, especially the economic relations among farmers, traders, and cold storage owners and elucidates the structural changes in the rural economy through a village study. Investment in the potato market is capital‐intensive and risky, and is often considered to be vertically linked. The present study shows that farmers and cold storage owners do not invest in trading because of lack of time and “skill” to deal with urban traders. Besides, farmers face capital constraints and the amount of potatoes produced is too small to meet the demand of urban areas. Cold storage owners are confronted with increasing competition, which forces them to attempt to reach the storage capacity. Traders invest in the risky potato‐storage business. The return from it is declining but still high due to the “cheap” credit supply from the cold storage owners. There is no tied relation among the market agents any more.